Now, two developers hope to bring the 17-room, red-brick building back to its original glory in a city full of historic homes and plantations.

Jim Carter and Mike Todd are the third set of developers in the past four years to try to salvage the Victorian architectural gem ensconced in Washington's commercial district.

So far, the two have ripped out tons of rotten ceilings and floors. They will soon start rebuilding the crumbling back wall to have the place ready for visitors by summer of 2004.

''We like to take on the buildings that other people don't want,'' said Todd, a chemical engineer with a passion for restoring private homes.

''Money's not the first thing we're after. Saving the building and bringing it back to life is what we really want.''

Unlike some of the previous developers who intended to restore the hotel, Todd and Carter want the hotel to resemble its 1898 design as closely as possible.

''We want it to be a living hotel again, one that people can tell has been cherished and maintained,'' said Carter, director of special education for the Oglethorpe County school system. Carter also has a 30-year history of restoring historic structures, most of which are in Athens.

The hotel was built in 1898 by two brothers, Thomas and John Fitzpatrick on property that had been burned from a fire that destroyed much of Washington's town square in 1895.

In the hotel's heyday, its interior reflected a Victorian flair for color with plenty of golds, reds and greens. The tin roof was painted blue. It also boasted such luxuries as central heating, telephones, and it was the first large building in the region to have electricity.

Despite its stripped-down current status, a number of the hotel's original features still stand, such as the original front lobby desk, stamped-tin ceiling, interior arches, wrought-iron railings and stained-glass accent windows.

Carter estimated the Fitzpatrick could be revived with their $1.4 million investment.

Sandy White, executive director of the Washington Downtown Development Authority, said in the Sept. 28 edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she hoped the restored hotel would help make the city a tourist destination.

Todd said the key to restoring the Fitzpatrick is keeping its turn-of-the-century swagger, that ''little bit of brass'' in its style.